Halton Council explains work undertaken after Widnes nursing home closed

Lilycross Care Centre on Wilmere Lane in Widnes has been shut down by the Care Quality Commission after a report blasted it as 'inadequate'.

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Halton Council has explained work undertaken following a Widnes nursing home being shut down and slammed by a health and social care watchdog.

Last week, the Weekly News reported that Lilycross Care Centre on Wilmere Lane had been blasted as ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Following an inspection, the health and social care watchdog applied to magistrates to cancel the registration of the home’s owner Lilycross Homes Ltd, which meant that care services could no longer legally be provided there.

Issues raised by inspectors included call bells being found out of the reach of residents, and a concern that where people’s weight had ‘significantly changed’ and were not supported to maintain their health, little or no action had been taken to address it.

The CQC also added that residents’ care plans were not being regularly updated to ensure staff were fully aware of developing concerns or changing care needs, while inspectors were also concerned over a reliance on bank and agency workers to keep safe staffing levels.

The watchdog added that no systems were in place at Lilycross to to monitor the quality of service being provided at the home.

The report also added that ‘filthy’ devices had been used to crush tablets and were ‘heavily contaminated with grime’, while 55 safeguarding issues – including medication errors and unexplained bruising incidents – had been identified at the home by Halton Council between March and August this year.

A Halton Council spokeswoman told the Weekly News that the local authority had worked with counterparts in St Helens, as well as NHS Halton Clinical Commissioning Group and the CQC to support Lilycross.

The statement said: “A multi-disciplinary team of key professionals have supported the home to address the concerns identified.

“However, the home was unable to sustain improvements to a degree which could safeguard its residents.

“The safety and wellbeing of residents is our priority and the team has continued to work with CQC to ensure a safe, smooth transfer of residents to alternative accommodation.”